Staph outbreaks. Scabies outbreaks. A footbridge over raw sewage. A guard with TB allowed to continue working. No blood sugar measurements for diabetics. Stroke victim left on a cell floor for days. A blind prisoner being tricked into signing his own "Do Not Resuscitate" form.

The Southern Poverty Law Center this morning released a report laden with jarring anecdotes, a report that argues the standard of medical care within Alabama prisons is cruel and therefore unconstitutional.

"The Alabama Department of Corrections is deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of the prisoners in its custody," contends the new report, "Cruel Confinement."

The Southern Poverty Law Center -- a nonprofit civil rights organization -- notes there are just 15.2 doctors and 12.4 dentists for 25,000 in-house inmates. And there are 4.7 full-time psychiatrists and only 5.6 psychologists for the entire system.

The report also argues that Alabama prisons do not treat disabled prisoners fairly and are woefully understaffed to care for mentally ill prisoners.

The Southern Poverty Law Center collaborated with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program on the report. They based their conclusions on inspections of 15 facilities, interviews with over 100 prisoners and review of thousands of pages of medical records and media accounts and depositions.

They cite a prisoner who had blood tests showing his prostate cancer had returned. He was given no additional treatment and died less than a year later. They cite another person who died when he went into shock and staff members did not know how to use the emergency medical cart.

The report includes tales of infected face wounds, amputated toes and feet, gangrenous testicles treated only with ice. They cite the story of a prisoner who complained after surgery that he was bleeding from his rectum. Staff twice gave him new pants after bled through his own, but gave him no treatment other than an antacid. He also died, according to today's report.

"Deliberate indifference to these medical needs constitutes 'unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain' barred by the Eighth Amendment," contends the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Today's nonprofit report makes some grim mention of the wider effects of overcrowding, contending prisons lack adequate facilities to wash clothes or handle wastewater. "At the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Center, there is a footbridge across a canal of raw sewage," reads the report.

The report also contends the Department of Corrections violates the rights of the disabled, from lack of access to areas of the prison to denial of work release to an officer hitting a deaf prisoner for not replying to a question.

They write of mentally ill patients who have medication stopped without seeing a psychiatrist or are given the wrong medication.

The Alabama Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

The report names a few contributing writers listed, but the chief author is listed as Maria Morris, managing attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center office in Montgomery.

"Alabama illegally operates a corrections system that is little more than a network of human warehouses, a place where individuals caught in the criminal justice system are banished and forgotten," reads the report. "A conviction does not open the door for the state to engage in cruelty."

"Whenever Alabama determines a person must be incarcerated, it must accept the legal – and moral – responsibility that comes from imprisoning a human being."

Launched this year by Alabama Media Group, the lab encourages innovation in digital journalism and audience interaction to guide and inform reporting on complex stories. Partners in the lab include the Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR station WBHM.

When it comes to Alabama's prison problems, what are your biggest concerns? Who is responsible? Why does it matter to you?

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